Transport and storage is vital to the Australian economy, underpinning a diverse range of industries and activities. These range from transporting and storing freight, to the movement of people by private and public transport, to vehicle hire and even the use of pipelines.

The contribution of an industry to the overall production of goods and services in an economy is measured by gross value added (GVA). Information on the relationship between industry GVA and gross domestic product (GDP) is provided in the Industry Structure and Performance chapter.

Total production of the transport and storage industry, as measured by industry GVA (in chain volume terms), doubled between 1985-86 and 2003-04 (graph 22.1).

Table 22.2 shows the GVA of the each of the sectors (or industry subdivisions) which the ABS uses to describe the transport and storage industry. During the period 1999-2000 to 2003-04, total transport and storage industry GVA rose by 20%. This was greater than the overall growth rate of the economy (14%).

All sectors within the transport and storage industry had larger increases in GVA (in chain volume terms) between 1999-2000 and 2003-04 than the increase in GDP over the same period. Within the industry, the road transport sector had the greatest increase in GVA (29%), followed by rail, pipeline and other transport (20%), and air and space transport (15%). The smallest increase in GVA in the period was in the transport services and storage (which includes water transport) sector of the industry (14%).

(a) Reference year for chain volume measures is 2002-03.(b) Includes water transport.(c) Chain volume measures for years other than 2002-03 and 2003-04 are not additive.

Source: Australian System of National Accounts, 2003-04 (5204.0).

Average annual employment in the transport and storage industry decreased from 418,500 people in 2000-01 to 408,000 in 2002-03. Between 2002-03 and 2004-05 employment rose by 46,400 people, or 11% to 454,400 (table 22.3).

Between 2003-04 and 2004-05 employment in the storage sector rose by 13,900 people, or 47%, while services to transport employment rose by 7,800 people or 11%. Over the same period, employment in road transport decreased by 7% to 214,800 people, and rail transport employment fell by 4% to 37,200 people.

22.3 TRANSPORT AND STORAGE INDUSTRY EMPLOYMENT(a)

2000-01

2001-02

2002-03

2003-04

2004-05

Industry subdivision

'000

'000

'000

'000

'000

Road transport

213.2

221.3

218.1

230.9

214.8

Rail transport

37.3

31.8

36.3

38.9

37.2

Water transport

13.4

13.6

12.6

13.3

13.6

Air and space transport

53.4

50.7

46.4

45.3

46.7

Other transport

*0.6

*0.6

*0.5

*0.5

*0.7

Services to transport

67.6

68.6

65.5

69.3

77.1

Storage

29.7

24.0

26.8

29.6

43.5

Transport and storage nfd(b)

*3.4

*2.4

*1.9

4.7

20.8

Total

418.5

413.0

408.0

432.5

454.4

(a) Annual average of quarterly data.(b) Not further defined. Insufficient detail collected from survey respondent to allocate them to a specific industry code.